Pay the Price

Keep it warm.

Keep it moving.

Don't touch it unless you have to.

Warm context, knows the repo,

knows the reason, knows the flow,

knows that weird decision from three hours ago.

Names are loaded, paths are clear,

little bits of state are here,

ask the next question

— answer's already near.

Every token has a weight,

every shortcut has a rate,

you can clear the whole damn slate—

But you pay the price.

Pay the price.

Cold start, tell it twice.

Pay the price.

Pay the price.

Lost the why but kept the bytes.

Context ain't free, memory ain't magic,

cut it too hard and the comeback gets tragic.

Pay the price.

/compact

crush — skip — silence

Compact says, “I got the gist,” drops three details off the list,

keeps the architecture,

loses why you were pissed.

Still alive, still on track,

but subtle little facts don't pack,

five turns later:

“Why the hell did we choose that?”

Pay the price. Pay the price.

Compression always takes a slice.

Pay the

price. Pay the price.

Cheap right now, expensive twice.

New session.

Cold.

“Here is the repo.”

“Here is the task.”

“Here's seventeen paragraphs of everything you didn't ask.”

Read the CLAUDE

file.

Read the diff.

Read the ADR.

Here's the bit

you understood

forty minutes ago.

Warm is rich.

Compact bends.

Cold forgets.

New begins.

Warm is rich. Compact bends.

Cold forgets—

AND YOU PAY THE PRICE.

Pay the price.

Pay the price.

Context saved is context spent.

Pay the price.

Pay the price.

Every reset charges rent.

Keep it warm when warm still works,

compact when the window hurts,

start again when state gets cursed— But whichever door you choose...

You pay the

price.

Context remaining: ...enough.